SHOCK WINNER AS HAMILTON PAYS PENALTY
Little-known Frenchman Pierre Gasly takes the Italian Grand Prix as Briton is left to rue stewards’ decision
The Italian national anthem echoed across Monza in celebration of a surprise home win. The shock was not big enough to deliver a Ferrari to the top of the Italian Grand Prix podium. That would have needed alchemy of an altogether different order. The victory went to the Faenza-based Alpha Tauri and Pierre Gasly, Formula One’s 109th race winner.
How ironic that the result should come at the circuit where Se bastian Vettel took his maiden win for Alpha Tauri precursor Toro Rosso, who changed their name at the end of last year to promote the fashion label owned by Red Bull drinks magnate Dieter Mateschitz. Vettel’s triumph 12 years ago, from pole in the wet, presaged a brilliant career. He still had to fill in the gaps but that day the German trailed the impression that here was a special talent, the youngest at 21 years and 74 days to win a grand prix and a driver perhaps capable of operating in the same dimension as the great Teuton himself Michael Schumacher.
Four world titles later he would assume the seat filled so ruthlessly by Schumi at Maranello, but like Fernando Alonso found the experience ultimately unrewarding. After being served notice of his departure by the Ferrari hierarchy with all the sympathy of a serf being sacked by the Medici, Vettel could hardly have met a more apposite exit from the team’s home race.
Brake failure on lap 6 coming out of Parabolica saw him scatter the barrier at the first chicane unable to negotiate the turn. “On Tuesday I will be in the simulator. At least there the car stops,” Vettel told German broadcaster RTL in an admirable show of mirth.
In this setting of all places it was as if a higher authority had Ferrari on the end of a miserable string to punish the organisation for the embarrassment levied upon the Italian public.
Though none were in attendance, this latest humiliation will have been consumed remotely from b ehind sofas. The afternoon was to take an even more dismal twist on the 25th lap when Vettel’s team-mate Charles Leclerc embedded himself in the tyre wall at Parabolica. Leclerc lost it on the fastest corner of the fastest circuit in Formula One. The impact was so great it required a red flag to stop the race to allow for barrier repairs. The expression on the face of Mattia Binotto, the man upon whom the horrid responsibility rests at Ferrari, was one of resignation and despair.
It wasn’t all bad for the national psyche. Three Italian cars found themselves in the top five on the resumption, led by Gasly’s Alpha Tauri followed by the Alfa Rome - os of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi. The latter had to come in for the same ten-second penalty that befell Lewis Hamilton for diving into the pits when closed, and Raikkonen would fall back but nothing was stopping Gasly at the head of the field.
Leclerc’s catastrophic end had the further consequence of not only stalling Hamilton’s march, but ensuring he cannot draw level with Schumacher on 91 career victories on Italian soil at Mugello next Sunday, a scenario that looked all-too likely when the six-time champion was cruising at
In this setting of all places it was as if a higher authority had Ferrari on the end of a miserable string to punish the organisation for the embarrassment levied upon the Italian public
the head of the field. Hamilton, right, accepted responsibility for not seeing the red crosses through Parabolica when Kevin Magnusson parked his Haas. His error was a gift to the sport, forcing him to the back of the pack with half the race gone and under circumstances that made victory impossible.
Watching Hamilton reel in the peloton and pick off the back markers was a rare bonus but the real benefit was the oppor tunit y it gave the chorus line to shine. Under pressure from Ferrari-bound Carlos Sainz in the McLaren Gasly managed the closing laps masterfully, restoring some of th el ust re he lost when unceremoniously dumped from Max V er st a pp en’ s slipstream at Red Bull last year. 2 Main picture, Alphatauri’s French driver Pierre Gasly celebrates on the podium after his surprise win in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Top, Gasly is congratulated by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who crashed out of the race on lap 25. Above, more misery for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel retires from the race.